


the spaces between my fingers are where yours fit perfectly

by NeverApollogise



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Fluff, Harley Keener is Tony Stark's Adopted Child, Hurt Harley Keener, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Multi, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:54:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25149526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverApollogise/pseuds/NeverApollogise
Summary: Peter and Harley have been best friends for years but that's all they wereit didn't matter how many times Tony caught them tangled in each other's arms or how many of Harley's sweaters were in Peter's closetThe problem is that Peter wishes they were so much more and he thinks maybe Harley feels the same waybut then there's Naomi and Peter isn't even half as amazing as she ismaybe that's why it hurts so much---------------------------------------------based on the song Heather by Conan Gray
Relationships: Harley Keener/Original Female Character(s), Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 12
Kudos: 236





	the spaces between my fingers are where yours fit perfectly

**Author's Note:**

> just some quick notes before you start reading  
> Harley is 19 and was adopted by Tony 3 years ago.  
> he has finished school and works training interns for stark industries   
> Peter, ned and MJ are all 17 and in their last year of High School
> 
> Hope you enjoy reading!   
> (the title is from an Owl City song called vanilla twilight)

The air was cold as Peter walked towards Stark Tower, Ice cracked beneath his feet and he blew hot air into his hands every few seconds to try and keep some warmth in. He had never really done well in the cold, even before the spider bite when he was just a skinny asthmatic kid. Now he was practically a superhuman and even with multiple layers on he was still freezing cold.

It was the beginning of December and Peter was heading over to Stark Tower to help Harley decorate for Christmas. It had become a tradition of theirs ever since Mr. Stark adopted Harley 3 years ago. He and Peter had hit it off straight away and were the best of friends still. Sometimes though, late at night when Peter was in his room, He’d think about Harley and how his hair always looked perfect no matter how messy it was or how his eyes were some of the bluest, kindest eyes he had ever seen and whenever he was passionate about something his southern accent would come through stronger making Peter want to kiss him there and then. But none of that was important because Harley was Peter's best friend and he really couldn’t ruin what they had over some stupid crush.

Peter quickly pushed open the door to the tower, quickly warming up as the tower's heating engulfed him. He scanned his pass and made his way into the elevator.

“Welcome back Peter, would you like me to alert Harley of your arrival?” Friday asked, her voice floating down from the speakers above.

“Yes please Friday,” Peter replied directing his answer at the ceiling even though Mr. Stark had told him multiple times that Friday did not live in the ceiling.

The ride to the Starks floor didn’t take long and as he stepped out he could hear Harley singing along to some god-awful country version of Santa Claus is coming to town. He walked through the living room and into the kitchen where Harley was mixing some sort of batter together in a bowl while swaying his hips to the music, he hadn’t noticed Peter yet so he used the opportunity to watch Harley. As creepy as it sounded Peter loved watching Harley do things, whether it was working in the lab, fixing up an old car, dancing or baking he looked so carefree and happy (Peter doesn’t even want to think about his adorable concentration face) that Peter couldn’t help but love it. Harley spun around and jumped when he saw Peter, holding a hand up to his heart and feigning some sort of heart attack.

“Jesus Christ Pete warn a guy,”

Peter laughed and pushed himself up onto the counter “sorry Harls.” He sat swinging his legs back and forth “whatcha making?”

“Cupcakes!” Harley exclaimed as if was the most obvious thing in the world “you can help decorate them if you want darlin’.”

“I think I’ll just let you do it” Peter laughed remembering last time they tried to decorate cakes together.

The boys spent the rest of the afternoon decorating the living room, Tony used to do it but Harley hated how commercial it looked

_“Christmas decorations aren’t meant to look like they have come out of a display Tony,” Harley whined while looking at the perfectly decorated Christmas tree. It was his first Christmas with the Starks and it was everything he could have dreamed of. May was working so Peter had come round for the day, Mr. Stark and Pepper both had the day off and for the first time in a while, Harley felt like he had a proper family._

_“Alright then kid, why don’t you and Pete decorate the room instead,” Tony suggested_

_“Really!” Harley asked trying not to show to much of his excitement but clearly failing._

_“Yeah why not kid, the room would look nicer with a bit of a family feel to it.”_

By the end of the day both boys were shattered, they collapsed on the couch big smiles on their faces. This was Peter's favourite time of the year and he loved it even more now he had a bigger family to celebrate it with.

“You wanna watch a film, Pete?” Harley asked breaking the silence.

“Yeah sure” Peter replied and shuffled about until he was comfortable on the couch.

Harley asked Friday to put on The Nightmare Before Christmas and then settled down. The boys watched the film in silence, making the odd comment every now and then before breaking into fits of laughs. They slowly gravitated closer to each other but that wasn’t anything new, there were countless nights when Mr. Stark would come home and find Harley wrapped around Peter both fast asleep on the couch.

About halfway through the film, Peter started shivering again, it wasn’t even that cold in the penthouse but the cold from earlier mixed with how tried he felt was now making an appearance. He tried to shuffle away from Harley as to not disturb him but it didn’t work.

“You alright darlin’?” Harley asked turning away from the film.

“Yeah ‘m just a little cold,” Peter responded softly not wanting to break the calm atmosphere.

Harley Paused the film and got up off the couch “I’ll be back in a sec.” then he quickly left the room. Peter only had to wait a few seconds before Harley came back arms full of blankets. He put then down on the edge of the couch and pulled something out from in between them. It was his old Rosehill High sweater.

“Here darlin’ put that on,” He said while grabbing the blankets and sitting right down next to Peter, pulling him close and spreading the blanket out over both of them, then he unpaused the film “That better?”

“Yeah, thanks Harls,”

“No problem Darlin’.”

It kind of became a thing after that, you wouldn’t even know that the sweater was Harleys apart from the fact it had his old schools’ logo on it. Whenever Peter was cold or stayed over and forgot his own that was the sweater Harley brought him and Peter adored it, he loved how the sleeves hung down past his hands because even though Peter was about average height but Harley was 6’2 so any of his clothes were way too big for Peter.

Nothing had really changed between them though; they were still best friends and Peter was still hiding his crush deep down where Harley could never find it.

\--------------------

The halls of Midtown high were busy as ever as Peter walked towards the doors. His day had been long and draining and Flash had been extra annoying in decathlon practice so all he wanted to do was go home and sleep. He weaved his way through the other students and finally walked out of the school doors. He heard someone shout his name so he looked around until his eyes set on a familiar figure leaning up against a flashy car.

“Harley!” Peter exclaimed and then ran towards him. He had barely seen him these last few days, he’d been busy training new interns and Peter hadn’t had a chance to go to the tower and say hi.

“Hiya Pete,” He laughed.

“What are you doing here?” Not that Peter was complaining but Harley didn’t come and pick him up often.

“Thought we could hang out, also I have something important to tell you,” Harley said opening the car door and gesturing for Peter to get in. Harley drove them back to Peters apartment, Peter got them both a drink and they sat on the couch.

“So what was it you wanted to tell me?” Peter asked.

“Oh yeah! So I was at this coffee shop the other day, expecting to see my usual barista but he wasn’t there. His replacement must have been new because I hadn’t seen her before but damn Pete, she was cute.” Harley explained excitedly but all Peter could focus on was what he had said last.

He knew that he and Harley would never be a thing, and this pretty much cements the fact that he’s straight, but it hurt to listen to Harley gush over this girl called Naomi, who was apparently the funniest most adorable person he had ever met. He didn’t want to listen to Harley gush over somebody that wasn’t him “and so I started talking to her while she made my coffee and then as I was leaving I noticed that she’d written her number on my cup! Can you believe it?!”

Even though it hurt to listen he still wanted to be excited for his friend “Of course I can, you’re a catch Harls,” he joked hoping his distaste for the subject didn’t show through.

“Thanks, Pete,” Harley smiled widely, “I think I’m gonna ask her on a date,”

It took all of Peters will power for him not to cry right now but this was about Harley, he hadn’t had the best of luck with dating in the past and on one pretty emotional night at the tower Harley had told him about how he had been bullied back in Rosehill for how he looked so Peter knew how much this must mean to him.

“I think that’s a great idea, Harley, she’d be stupid to say no.”

Harley and Peter spent the rest of the evening watching reruns of old TV shows and eating the pizza that May brought home from work.

\-------------------------

“They have been going out for 2 months MJ, _2 months!_ ” Peter said while shoving his face into a pillow and wanting to scream “I want to hate her, I really do because it would make this a hell of a lot easier but she is so damn nice.”

MJ sighed while shooting a look towards Ned, they had heard Peter complain about Harley a lot but now the older boy was in a relationship it was even worse. She did feel bad for Peter though, that boy was crushing so hard and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“And then he goes and invites me to a party that she’s also going to, what am I supposed to do? Sit and cry while they have fun in the next room.” Peter genuinely felt like falling apart, he’d hoped that this relationship wouldn’t really amount to anything but now they’ve been going out for 2 months and Harley can’t stop going on about how pretty she is or how fun their last date was. Peter has tried to be supportive of it because he doesn’t want to lose his best friend, but it’s getting harder and harder.

“It’ll be fine Peter. Harley isn’t just going to ditch you, he’s not like that.” Ned reassured him but it didn’t help much.

Eventually, Ned and MJ had to go home so Peter was left counting down the hours before he had to get ready to go to the party. He tried to distract himself by watching TV but it didn’t really work and he just ended up sitting staring at the screen while a million thoughts rushed around his head. He must have zoned out at some point though because the next time he checked his phone it was 8 o’clock. _Shit Harley’s gonna be here in 30 minutes._ Peter quickly had a shower the proceeded to spend 20 minutes standing in front of his mirror deciding if his outfit was good enough, He had decided to wear a burgundy polo and some black jeans with his vans.

The doorbell rang, snapping Peter out of his head “Coming!” He yelled towards the door then quickly grabbed his wallet phone and jacket and went to answer it.

“Hey Pete,” Harley smiled. He looked good, really good. Harley had gelled his hair back just enough that it stayed but it wasn’t plastered to his head, he had a tight fitted shirt on which made peter drool and some checkered pants that really suited him.

_I’m so fucked_ Peter thought before responding with a lame “hey Harls, you look nice,”

“Why thank you darlin’.” Harley laughed “ready to go?”

The drive to the party didn’t really take long and before Peter knew it he was standing in some random person's kitchen trying to focus on what Harley is saying without all the other noise getting jumbled in his head. The party wasn’t as bad as Peter thought it would be, he was actually having fun. He and Harley hadn’t hung out properly in a while so even if it had to be here, Peter was gonna take what he could get.

Two people who worked in the R&D labs came over and the four of them had been talking for quite a while when Harley excused himself from the group leaving Peter alone with them. He said he’ll be back in a second so Peter thought he might as well wait. The guys from R&D soon left and now Peter was Standing alone in the kitchen holding a lukewarm drink that he didn’t really want and listing to music that he didn’t really like.

After about ten minutes Peter decided that he didn’t want to stand here alone anymore so he made his way upstairs looking for a bathroom he could hide in for a while. The upstairs hallway was long with a couple doors either side, the first two were both locked so he carried on down the hall. _Oh, there it is_ Peter thought as he saw a slightly cracked open door.

Peter walked towards it but as soon as he pushed it open he wished he hadn’t. Harley was pushing Naomi up against the counter, she had her hands on his chest and was kissing down his neck. Peter felt like he was going to throw up, he turned to leave but then the door creaked and Harley's head shot up.

“Uh sorry, I didn’t realise anyone was in here,” Peter said quickly wanting to leave as soon as possible “I’m just gonna go,” Peter darted back down the hall, he heard Harley call after him but didn’t want to interrupt him anymore so he just kept on walking.

He didn’t really want to be around loads of people right now so he weaved in and out of everybody until he was in the back garden. It was a lot quieter out here, there were only a couple people dotted about and nobody was really paying attention to him. Peter sat down on the back porch and drew his knees up to his chest. He felt awful, his stomach was all twisted up and his head kept on replaying the image of Harley and his girlfriend repeatedly. It hurt that Harley had ditched him to go make out with Naomi but he supposed he couldn’t blame him, he’s not the most exciting person to hang out with. _That’s why Harley hasn’t been asking you to hang out, he obviously prefers his girlfriend to you._ Peter could feel tears start to well up in his eyes, he harshly wiped them away.

He didn’t have any right to be crying over this, it’s not Harley's fault that Peter was in love with him. _Oh god, I’m in love with him._ This time Peter couldn’t stop the tears from coming so he just sat on the back porch crying quietly, praying to god that nobody comes over. _I love him, why do I have to love him!?_ It was just Parker luck that the first time Peter realises he loves someone, he has absolutely no chance of them loving him back.

He can feel the faint buzzing of his phone in his pocket but he doesn’t want to pick it up, so it rings out vibrating his whole body while he just sits there are stares into the garden. When it rings a second time he decides to pick it up, Harley's name flashes across the screen accompanied by a picture of the two of them from last Christmas.

“Pete, why weren’t you answering your phone?” Harley asks his voice sounding worried.

“Sorry, I went outside for a bit. Everything was getting too loud,” Peter half lied, he didn’t want Harley to know the real reason he left the house.

“Do you want to go home?” He asks.

“Yes please,” Peter says quietly the fatigue of the day finally catching up to him. Harley tells him to meet him in front of the house and then hangs up. Peter takes a couple of deep breaths and then pushes himself up from the ground. He makes his way back through the house and straight out the front door.

Harley was standing waiting for him out front, hands in his pockets and facing the front door so he could see when Peter came out he house. Harley smiled when he saw him and Peter walked down towards him

“Ready to go darlin’?” He asked while grabbing his keys out of his pocket.

“Yeah,” Peter replied following Harley to his car. The ride home was silent and awkward, Peter spent the whole time looking out the window. He hated the silence; things were never awkward between them yet now they were. _It’s because he’s realised how much of a burden you are. Eventually, he’s just going to leave you like everybody else did._ Peter tried to stop thinking as they pulled up outside of his apartment building. Peter was about to get out of the car when Harley's hand shot out and grabbed his hand. Peter knew that if he really wanted to he could get out of his hold and leave the car but instead he just sat there staring at Harley waiting for him to say something.

“Are you alright Pete?” He finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah I’m fine, why do you ask?” Peter looks down at his lap no longer wanting to look at Harley while his hand was in his.

“it’s just-” He started before shaking his head “It’s nothing, night Pete,” he let go of Peter's hand and put his hands back on the wheel.

Peter opened the car door and stepped out “goodnight Harls,”

\-------------------------

The rain pelted the windows as Peter waited for the microwave to finish. _Now I understand the term ‘April showers’_ Peter thought to himself. He and Harley were having a movie night for the first time in a while and Peter was really looking forward to spending some time with him again.

“Come on Pete, I wanna start the film!” Harley called from the other room.

“I can’t speed up the microwave Harls, so unless you want undercooked popcorn you’ll have to wait!” Peter yelled back laughing at his impatience. Eventually, the microwave finished and Peter made his way back into the living room. He put the bowl down onto the table then jumped onto the couch right next to Harley. He grabbed Peter and shifted him till they were both comfortable, then started the movie.

It was Harley's turn to choose so he had put on some old school sci-fi film that Peter had never heard of. He had his head in Harley’s lap and Harley’s fingers were threading in and out of his hair. They ended up like this a lot and it was one of Peter's favorite things, it didn’t even matter that it was platonic. After a while, Harley’s hands left Peter’s hair and he let out a noise of complaint, Harley chuckled quietly and picked up his phone.

“Harelyyyyyy, you’re not even paying attention!” Peter whined jokingly while sitting up.

“Yes I am, Peteyyyy” Harley mimicked back at him.

“You are on your phone.” Peter deadpanned while staring at Harley. He knew who Harley was texting and he was annoyed that even when they were supposed to be spending time together she was still here somehow. Harley seemed to completely ignore what Peter had said through and the room was silent apart from the film still playing on in the background, unwatched.

“Fuck, Petey,” Harley says suddenly, cutting the silence in the middle, startling Peter a bit.

Peter looked at him, cocking his head to the side in confusion “What?”

“I think I love her.”

Peter can feel his heart sink in his chest.

“You do?” He asks trying not to let his hurt show through.

Harley nods, staring down at his phone with a look of affection Peter was never going to receive.

What did he expect? Harley's girlfriend is everything he isn’t. She’s got long, curly brown hair, and big blue eyes. Her teeth are annoyingly perfect and freckles are dotted all over her cheekbones, like constellations in the sky. Even her name was pretty, _Naomi,_ like how could Peter ever compete with that?

“She’s so pretty and funny. She can’t be human; I can’t believe how lucky I am honestly”

Peter resists the urge to gag as his stomach lurches along with his heart. He can’t sit here anymore, the air around him feels suffocating. He feels wrong to want Harley’s affection when he is in a relationship with someone he loves. _Oh god, Harley loves her._ He needs to leave now.

“I’m pretty tired, I think I’m gonna go to bed,”

Harley looks up and frowns “But we didn’t even finish the film.”

Peter feels slightly bad but it’s not as if the other boy was paying attention to it anyway “Sorry Harls but I’m practically falling asleep here,”

Harley looked as if he wanted to protest more but he didn’t “Night Pete,”

“Night Harley,”

With that, Peter walked out of the room as quickly as he could without it being suspicious. As soon as he was in his room he slid down against the door and let out a heart-breaking sob.

Why the hell is he crying? He shouldn’t be fucking crying. Harley never liked him back. Not when Harley and him first met and immediately became best friends, not when Peter took him on a tour of New York and they held hands the entire time, not when Peter told him that he was Spider-man and Harley said that he was the bravest person he ever knew, not when they cuddled at every sleepover or movie night before he found Naomi, not when Harley found Naomi because-

_He found her because he doesn’t like you._

_He doesn’t like you, Peter, he never has and never will._

His hand was clapped over his mouth muffling the sounds of his sobs in the hopes that Harley wouldn’t hear when he eventually went to bed.

_Nobody likes you Peter, the only thing you are good at is being Spiderman and even then you still fuck that up._

He tried to calm down but his breathing kept getting faster and faster.

_Great now I’m having a panic attack because the boy I love doesn’t love me back, fucking brilliant._

“Peter you seem to be in distress, would you like me to inform Harley?” Friday asked.

“No!” He managed to get out “I’m fine.”

“If you say so” Friday replied and then the room went silent leaving Peter alone with his thoughts once again.

\--------------------

Peter was in the middle of Patrol when he got an incoming call from Harley. It had been a few weeks since Harley admitted he loved his girlfriend and Peter was pretty sure he was over it by now… Okay, he wasn’t over it but his feelings don’t matter, all that matters is that he and Harley are still best friends and as long as it stays that way he’ll be fine.

Harley's voice came through the speakers in his mask “Hey Pete, you busy right now?”

“Not really, Patrols pretty quiet right now. What’s up?” Peter asked while swinging from building to building.

“So I was wondering if I could invite Naomi to our next group movie night, you guys haven’t really met her yet and I’d really like it if you all get along. Then MJ won’t be the only girls anymore, and I know she doesn’t really care about that stuff bu-” Harley's voice faded out and all Peter could focus on was the fact he wanted to invite her to their movie night. They’ve had these movie nights every month since Peter introduced Harley to Ned and MJ.

Peter wasn’t really paying attention to what he’s doing so before he can even stop himself he’s smashed straight into the side of a building “Shit!”

“Are you alright Pete?” Harley asked worriedly.

“Huh? Oh yeah I’m fine, just lost my grip, what were you saying?” Peter says while shaking off the shock of smashing into a building and hoping that nobody had seen him.

“I was waiting for an answer darlin’.” Harley laughs, Peter wishes he could hear that laugh forever.

“Right, yeah sure she can come” as soon as it had come out of Peter’s mouth he regretted it.

“Awesome! It’s gonna be so fun, I can’t wait,” Harley sounded so excited that he felt bad for not wanting her to come, it wasn’t fair.

“Neither,” Peter replied hoping that Harley couldn’t tell he was lying.

He didn’t seem to pick up on it though “I’ll see you then, bye Pete!” then he hung up.

\--------------------

Peter has a million ways of how to get out of this floating around in his head and he was contemplating if it was too late to turn around and go home when he heard somebody yell his name from across the street.  
“-ter! Peter!” when he looked over he saw MJ, she quickly rushed across the street and pulled him into a tight hug “I could see you thinking about running away from across the street.”

“What, no I wasn’t!” Peter had never been particularly good at lying, MJ gave him a sad look but it wasn’t pity, she just hoped that he would be able to sort this out.

“I know you don’t want to do this Peter but Harley is really excited so you’ve got to at least try” MJ being soft was a rare occurrence so Peter knew that she was on his side “for him.”

“Yeah okay.” He smiled at her as if to say _thank you._

“Come on then loser, they are probably waiting for us.” And it was as if that conversation never happened. The two of them rushed into the tower, Peter smiled at the security guards and they made their way into the elevator and up to the Starks floor.

When the finally exited the elevator they saw ned sat on the couch, deep in a conversation with Naomi. Harley was nowhere in the room so he was probably in the kitchen. Ned smiled when he saw them come in and ran up to give them both a hug.

“Babe, the rest of your friends are here!” Naomi yelled into the other room then she got up off the couch and walked over to the three of them “Hi I’m Naomi, it nice to properly meet you guys.” She pulled both of them into a hug and Peter felt highly uncomfortable, he tried to hide it but he knew that MJ saw through it.

“You too,” MJ replied politely then she went to take her usual seat on the couch, ned following behind.

Peter wasn’t really sure where he was supposed to sit, normally he’d be right up against Harley but that wasn’t his place anymore. In the end, he just decided to sit alone on the love seat, no matter how lonely it felt.

Harley walked in a few seconds later with 3 big bowls of popcorn “hey guys! Glad you're finally here.” He flashed Peter a smile and if it was possible to melt Peter would have done it there and then.

Harley sat down on the couch, pulled Naomi onto his lap, and then started the film. They were watching the original Tron film; Peter had seen it like a billion times but he still loved it so wasn’t really bothered. Normally he’d be invested in the film within the first 5 minutes but now all he could focus on was how close Harley and his girlfriend were or the fact that Harley was playing with her hair. Peter was supposed to be there, Harley’s hands were supposed to be in his hair, not hers.

They forced his eyes back onto the TV and tried to focus on the film and it worked for a while, he was starting to actually enjoy himself but that all ended when his super hearing picked up whispers from across the room. Naomi was whispering stupid lovey-dovey things in Harley's ear and it was driving Peter insane.

“Could you guys be quiet please we are trying to watch the film” He snapped before he could stop himself. MJ shot him a warning look but he pretended not to see it.

Harley looked shocked at his outburst but then ignored Peter in favour of turning back to Naomi “sorry about him, he’s not normally like this.”

“Sorry Peter, we will try and keep quiet.” Naomi apologised while smiling.

“And maybe tone down the PDA, none of us want to see that” Peter bit back, he didn’t even know why though, there was no reason for him to be annoyed at the couple.

“What the fuck Pete?” Harley looked annoyed and Peter couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with him.

“It’s alright babe, we’ll tone it down okay.” She didn’t even look irritated, just understanding, and that frustrated Peter so much more.

“Good.” Harley glared at him but Peter tried to pretend he didn’t notice. Why did she have to be so damn nice? Peter never should have agreed to this, it was such a bad idea. He just wanted to make Harley happy and now he was regretting this entire situation and Harley was annoyed at him.

Peter tried to sit through the rest of the film but he couldn’t stop thinking about how Harley hated him now and was never going to talk to him again.

“I’ve got to get up early tomorrow so I’m probably just gonna go to bed, sorry guys.” Peter stood up and quickly walked out of the room. As soon as he made it to his bedroom he got into his bed, not even bothering to change into some pajamas. He lay there staring at the ceiling trying to block out the noise from the other room.

Peter lay there for at least another half an hour before he heard anyone leave. The floor was mostly silent now apart from Harley moving around, probably tiding up. He hoped that he would just go straight to bed and forget about everything but Peter could hear his footsteps get closer to his room. Peter turned away from the door and closed his eyes, he tried to even out his breathing so Harley would think he was asleep but he should have known it would never work. Harley knows him too well for that. The door slammed open and Peter could practically feel the frustration rolling off of the older boy.

“What the fuck was that Peter?!” Harley asked but Peter just stayed still not answering “I know you’re were awake so why don’t you get up and tell me why you were being so fucking rude tonight.”

Peter knew that he couldn’t avoid it any longer so he sat up in his bed and looked at Harley.

“What is going on with you Pete?” Harley was practically pleading for Peter to give him an answer.

“It’s Nothing Harley” He snapped.

“It’s obviously something Peter!” Harley ran his hands through his hair and tried to calm himself down “Is it school, did flash say something to you? Or is it a spiderman thing?”

“No! just drop it.” Peter was getting frustrated now. He couldn’t tell Harley what was really wrong, it would ruin everything, but he hated it when the older boy was angry at him.

“I can’t just drop it, Pete! Not when it means that you are going to be a dick to my girlfriend.” He yelled his accent coming out thicker now that he was angry.

“Well, I’m sorry if I hurt her feelings. There, happy now!” Peter fumed. He just wanted Harley to leave before he completely fucks up what is left of their friendship.

“Happy?” he scoffs “Why would I be happy when you’re obviously not? I just want to know what’s wrong,”

Peter doesn’t even have it in him to yell back anymore, it’s pathetic and he can feel tears start to well up in his eyes “No you don’t.”

“You’re really not going to even try?” Harley looks close to tears now as well but he is still so angry with Peter.

“Are Ned and MJ still downstairs?” He asks quietly, ignoring Harley's previous question.

“So you’re gonna tell them and not me, huh? I know we have drifted a bit lately but I’m still your best friend!” Harley was seething with anger now “Or at least I thought I was.”

The room was silent and Peter didn’t know what to say, he was so close to breaking down there and then but Harley hated him enough already.

Harley was the one to break the silence “Ned and MJ both went home and-” He paused for a second “I think you should do the same.”

Peter looked up at him unbelieving for a second but when he realised that Harley was deadly serious he grabbed his bag and ran out of the room. Tears were rolling freely out of his eyes now as he walked into the elevator. It took all of his will power to not just sink to the floor of the elevator and stay there forever but he couldn’t.

On the subway home, people gave him sympathetic looks, but he didn’t want their sympathy. He wanted to be at home in his bed where he could freely cry his heart out and nobody would judge him.

\--------------------

“Hey kid, having seen you around in a while” Tony’s voice crackled through his nearly broken phone, he had dropped it on patrol a few nights ago and was lucky it even still turned on.

“Yeah sorry about that Mr. Stark, I’ve been busy,”

That was a complete lie, he has been avoiding going to the tower for weeks now because he doesn’t want to run into Harley. They haven’t spoken since their fight and Peter hasn’t tried to contact him; Harley hadn’t tried once.

“Always busy nowadays aren’t you Pete?” Tony chuckled.

“Yep, that’s me” Peter sighed into the phone “Is there something you wanted, or are you just calling because?”

“Am I not allowed to just chat with my favourite intern anymore?” Tony asked before sighing and giving in “I just wanted to see how you were doing, alright.”

“I’m fine Mr. Stark,” Peter knew that this would happen eventually.

“I don’t know what your fight was about but Harley seemed pretty beaten up over it, just give him a call you guys were best friends,” Tony says letting the concern in his voice show through.

“ _Were_ Mr. Stark, past tense,” Peter pointed out even though it hurt “I fucked it up alright, but Harley isn’t making any attempts to talk to me either.”

“Just think about it, Pete.” And with that Tony hung up, leaving Peter alone with his thoughts.

\--------------------

Peter knew he shouldn’t have let his guard down, that was like the number one rule of fighting, yet it happened. He didn’t notice the pain at first, too invested in the fight but as soon as the threat was gone his whole side felt like it was on fire. There was a kitchen knife lodged in the right side of Peter’s body. _Who the fuck brings a kitchen knife to a fight?!_ Was one of Peters only coherent thoughts the rest was a jumble of pain and trying to figure out how to not bleed out there and then.

The grasped onto the wall and managed to pull himself up. Now all he had to do was swing to Stark Tower, seems easy enough… wrong, it took Peter way longer than it should have but eventually he was crashing through a window and landing on the floor of Tony’s living room. Maybe he should have thought his plan through a bit more but he was currently bleeding out so he feels like he deserves a bit of slack.

“Your heart rate is abnormally high Peter and you seem to be losing a lot of blood, would you like me to call for help” Fridays voice rang out but it seemed distant.

“Get Tony” was all that he managed to get out, it was becoming more and more difficult for him to breathe.

“Mr. Stark isn’t in the tower at the moment so I will have to alert Harley instead,” Friday informed.

Peter could barely register what Friday had said, just that somebody would help him. If it wasn’t for his superhuman abilities he wouldn’t be conscious right now but even with them, it was getting harder and harder to stay awake. The pain in his side had got a considerable amount worse and more blood had started pooling around him.

“Peter?” Somebody called out frantically but he couldn’t tell who but as the person got closer he could immediately tell it was Harley. Peter doesn’t know what hurts more the stab wound or the fact that he’s probably going to die before he gets to apologise to him for being such a shitty friend.

“Hey Pete, you gotta stay awake for me.” Harley pleads while fighting off tears “I called the med bay and they’re gonna come and get you, you just gotta stay awake.”

Peter wanted to, for Harley, but he’s lost way too much blood and the pain is so bad. He can barely breathe but he manages to say one more thing before the darkness overtakes him

_“I’m sorry Harls.”_

\--------------------

When Peter first comes to its only for a short while, he can’t really tell where he is, everything is groggy. But he can hear the soft beeping of a heart monitor and that slowly wills him back into the darkness.

The next time it’s for a bit longer, he knows someone is in the room with him, their heartbeat is slow and steady. _Must be sleeping_ he thinks. He feels a weight in his hand and turns his head to the side and Harley is there. His head on his chest and his hand in Peter’s. He looks so young slumped in the uncomfortable hospital chair, hair all over the place and tear tracks down his face. Peter drifts back to sleep peacefully this time thinking that maybe he hadn’t messed everything up beyond fixing.

The third time is a lot busier; nurses are bustling in and out of his room. One is doing something with the IV in his arm and it’s not very comfortable. He can’t feel the weight in his hand anymore but he can’t still hear the heartbeat, not too far away, and this time it is paired with two more. A doctor comes over to him and helps him sit up, he thinks he recognises her from the last time he got severely injured on patrol.

“Hello Peter, I’m Dr. Cho. You might not remember me because you’re never that conscious when we meet,” She jokes and Peter lets out a small laugh but then winces at the pain it causes “We managed to remove the knife and close the wound without any trouble, but you might be sore for a couple days.”

Peter nods along knowing that it won’t take that long for him to properly heal so he’ll just have to deal with the pain until then.

“I want to keep you in the med bay one more night just so we can monitor how you are healing, then you will be free to go home,” Dr. Cho informs him and he groans on the inside, he never liked hospitals. She leaves the room after checking the machines one last time and then Peter is left in silence, its short lived though because Tony and his aunt both burst in and rush over to him.

“You are gonna give me a heart attack one day kid,” Tony sighs and sits down on the chair next to his bed.

“At least I came to get your help this time, not my fault you weren’t here,” Peter jokes and laughs at the disapproving look Tony shoots him. May sits down on the other side of him and starts threading her fingers through his hair in a comforting way.

“I’m so glad you are okay baby, I don’t think I’m ever gonna get used to this Spidey thing,” she says her voice watery.

“I’m sorry I worried you guys,” Peter mumbled guiltily.

“Nope, none of that Pete, we are just glad you are okay,” Tony shuts him down quickly placing his hand on his shoulder supportively.

They sit like that for a while just taking in each other’s presence but Peter feels like there is something missing.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter started “is Harley mad at me?”

Tony looks at him shocked for a second before laughing softly “you two are too like each other for your own goods,” he turns and looks at peter dead on “he’s not mad at you kid, in fact, he’s waiting outside the door too scared to come in because he thinks you won’t want to see him,”

“What?”

“Yep, well go and get him for you and let you guys talk it out,” Tony says while standing up and motioning for May to follow him out the room. Peter sits nervously thinking of all the things he wants to say. Peter hears the door snap open and Harley stands there in the doorway nervously

“Hey,” he says eventually, making eye contact with Peter for the first time in ages.

“Hey,” Peter mimicked and smiled softly at Harley. Neither boy said anything for a while, having too much that needed to be out in the open but not knowing how to express it fully.

“I’m sorry,” Both of them blurted out at the same time before falling into a fit of laughs. Harley walked further into the room and sat down on the chair that Tony was previously in.

“I really am sorry though, for everything,” Peter says earnestly.

“You don’t need to apologise Pete” Harley tries but Peter is having none of it.

“Yes I do, it wasn’t okay for me to be rude to you and Naomi for no reason and it wasn’t fair for me to ignore you for a month,” Peter rambled “I'll apologise to Naomi too, we can all have another movie night and I won't be a dick this time an-”

“Pete, it's okay.” Harley insists and he laces Peter’s fingers with his own in a reassuring way “me and Naomi broke up actually.”

Peter sits up straight ignoring the pull on his side and the dull ache that comes along with it “oh Harley I’m so sorry, I should have been there for you and I wasn’t.”

“Peter if you apologise to me one more time I swear to god,” Harley warns jokingly.

“Sor-” He starts but then stops himself when he notices the look Harley is shooting him “uh why did you guys break up?”

Harley sighs and removes his hand from Peter’s so he can use it to rub over his face “She says that I wasn’t as invested in the relationship as she was, that I always had someone else on my mind.”

Peter was confused Harley said that he might love her but she thought he wasn’t invested enough; it didn’t make sense “Did you” He asks, “have someone else on your mind?”

“Yeah” He admits looking straight at Peter again.

“Who?” Peter doesn’t know if he actually wants to know.

“You.” Harley says and Peter thinks the drugs he’s on have made him delusional but then Harley starts talking again “god Pete, it was always you. Ever since I moved here it’s been you.”

“What?” if Harley is playing some kind of joke on him Peter would die there and then.

“I thought I was so obvious, always touching ya and lettin’ you wear my clothes but you never got it. So I tried to move on and that didn’t fuckin’ work either.” He continued and Peter didn’t really know what to say so he did the only thing he could think of, he leaned in and kissed the older boy.

Harley sat there frozen for a second Peter was about to pull away thinking had read the situation entirely wrong but then Harley relaxed into the kiss, pulling Peter closer and placing his hand on his cheek.

He didn’t want to but eventually, Peter had to pull away for breath “I love you too Harls,”

“Really?” Harley asked nervously.

“Really” Peter confirmed smiling brightly.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that” Harley admits smiling almost as wide as Peter.

“I think I could take a guess,” he says cheekily while scooting over on the bed and pulling Harley up next to him. The older boy tries to refuse not wanting to pull on any of the wires attached to Peter but he insists and eventually, the two boys are both tangled together on the uncomfortable twin bed, legs and hearts intertwined. Harley pulled Peter into his chest and place a hand in his hair, he relaxed into the hold and craned his neck so he could look up at Harley.

“I love you, Harley,” He breathed out quietly pushing himself further into Harley's body.

“I love you too darlin’.”

It might have taken them a while to get here but Peter knows that now he has Harley he’s never going to let go and Harley wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it :)  
> feel free to leave kudos or a comment, I love hearing what you guys think of my stories  
> also, I'd really appreciate if you could go and check out my multi-chap fic, its also a Peter x Harley story   
> thanks again for reading and I hope you are all staying happy and healthy <3


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